Don Mattingly Makes A Managerial Decision

For the first time since Don Mattingly has been the Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he decided to act like a manager. He decided after the second game of the Milwaukee Brewers series that outfielder Andre Ethier was not "competing" the way he would like so he benched him for the final game of the series. It turned out to be a 9-2 Dodgers win in which Ethier replacement Scott Van Slyke went 2 for 4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI's. The benching of Ethier may be a decision that was long overdue and dates back to the end of last season. I believe the Ethier era in Los Angeles will probably be over by the All-Star break and the trading deadline at the latest. I am not saying that Scott Van Slyke is the short or long term answer in Rightfield for the Dodgers but I do believe that Ethier has worn out his welcome in Los Angeles. The best case scenario would be that this benching serves as a wakeup call for Ethier and the worst case scenario is that the Dodgers can pick up a couple of prospects for him at the trading deadline.